The sport of swimming has made pools an integral element of school sporting structures, recreational centers, and exercise gyms. Likewise, spending time in the water for exercise, relaxation, and play has made the pool extremely popular for the backyard or home. Recreational pool users play all manner of sports and games in the water and in addition to games like tag, many traditionally land based games are now played in a water environment. In particular, both volleyball and basketball have become popular sports to play while enjoying friendly company and the pool environment.
Unfortunately, sports poles, not a typical feature of a pool, are required to support the necessary equipment for both basketball and volleyball. Traditionally, sports pole mounting structures consisted of a pole permanently anchored in the ground using concrete or another such suitable material. While the traditionally anchored sports pole provided a safe sturdy goal or net, a permanent sports goal does not fit well with the general multipurpose pools of the modern home or backyard. Particularly for pools used for entertaining, a permanent sports pole would be a serious obstruction, both unpleasant to the eye and difficult to maneuver around during parties or social events.
In-ground sleeve mountings have attempted to solve this problem of permanent sports pole mounting. However, most sleeve mounting structures do not work with existing in-ground sleeves and more importantly may require expensive and specially shaped and designed sports poles to engage the sleeves.
Movable sport structures allow a person to move a sports pole from one place to another without the need of in-ground support. A popular example of a movable sport structure is the rolling basketball goals. Unfortunately, the rolling basketball goals are usually big and bulky and require significant ballast in the base structure to stabilize the sports pole. Their difficulty of movement and size has made the movable sport structure problematic for use in tight spaces or areas with little available room for ballast behind the sports pole, a typical scenario surrounding a pool.
Therefore, the pool environment presents a sports pole with some special problems. The traditionally anchored sports pole provides a safe sturdy pole but is unpleasant to the eye and difficult to maneuver around. The movable basketball goal provides the possibility of relocation during social events but the danger of a movable sports structure rolling into the pool during use or relocation presents a special concern for swimmers. Furthermore, movable sport structures are useless around pools surrounded by limited space or uneven terrain.
In light of the forgoing, there is a need for a sports pole mounting structure for use around a pool that is economic, secure and removable.